Archive for the ‘foreign language’ category

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Sing Holiday Songs in Foreign Languages!

December 10th, 2011

Hi! It’s Saturday, December 10, 2011 and time for Foreign Languages at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
World Wide Christmas

Singing is a fun way to introduce a foreign language. This website offers dozens of holiday songs and carols in English, Spanish, Latin, French, Italian, and German.

When you get to the site, look for the language you prefer. Below it, you’ll find a menu of songs.  Click on a song and a new screens opens where you’ll see the lyrics to the song. In most cases you’ll be able to watch and listen to a video production of the song as well. 

If you’d like to get the lyrics to holiday carols in a wider variety of foreign languages including Korean and Japanese, CLICK HERE.  When you get to the site, you can listen to the tune and click on the foreign language flag to see the lyrics in that language. You’ll find a variety of holiday classics such as:

  • Silent Night
  • Joy to the World
  • Deck the Halls
  • Jingle
  • And many more!

 

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Say “Hello” in Every Lanaguage & More!

April 30th, 2011

Hi!  It’s Saturday, April 30, 2011 and time for Foreign Languages at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website: Say Hello

Age Range:  All (with parental guidance)

This website, sponsored by the Internet Public Library, cleverly offers the visitor an opportunity tolearn how to say “Hello” in many of the 2,796 languages of the world – everything from Aleut to Zulu.

This is a great place for foreign language beginners to sample various languages to determine which ones they might like to learn how to speak. The format is simple. You click on the language you want to try and a new page opens where you’ll see:

  • The word “Hello” in that language
  • A pronunciation key
  •  Words in English from that language
  • The alphabet of the language
  • Links to free lessons on learning the language – including audio and video files
  • Information about the culture

In addition to the wonderful language resources, you are just a mouse-click away from a virtual field trip to the country where the language you selected is spoken. You’ll see photos, videos, and get encyclopedic information about every aspect of the country – including its history, economy, and tourist attractions.

Some of the languages include:

  • Arabic
  • Cherokee
  • Chinese
  • Finnish 
  • French
  • German
  • Greek
  • Hindi
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Mayan
  • Spanish
  • Swahili
  • Tagalog
  • Zapotec
  • Non-verbal Languages include Braille and Sign Language

Bookmark this site now to return often!

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Spanish for Kids

January 29th, 2011

Hi!  It’s Saturday, January 29, 2011 and time for Foreign Language at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
Spanishtown: Spanish for Kids

Age Range: 6-10  (Grades 1 – 4, with parental assistance and supervision)

This Google ad-supported website provides interactive exercises that teach young children Spanish vocabulary from basic to intermediate level. As you do the activities you can listen to the correct pronunciation of the words by a native Spanish speaker.

When you get to the site you’ll see a preview menu by grade level from 1-4. Click on any one and a new page opens with a broader menu of choices that includes activities for learning:
 
*Vocabulary – Learn to say colors, numbers, shapes, parts of the body, animals, methods of transportation, words for family members, weather, clothing, food, holidays, and basic conversational sentences.

*Counting – Learn to say numbers from 1-100 along with some basic math terminology.

*Grammar – Learn to say some verbs in present and past tense. 

To compliment and reinforce the vocabulary you will also find a selection of wordfind puzzles, crosswords and matching activities.

This is not a comprehensive language course. It’s a simple way to introduce learning the Spanish language, or to practice skills that you’ve already acquired. Parents that don’t speak Spanish can learn right alongside their children. 

The site offers downloads to tests, lesson plans and learning sheets for classroom teachers that can be tweaked for use at home. 

NOTE: “Spanish for Kids” is part of a larger website. I did NOT review other parts of the site. The kids’ section requires adult assistance to navigate.  The site has random ads and Google advertisements that if clicked on, will lead to outside websites so PARENTS, AS ALWAYS, SHOULD PREVIEW THE SITE AND SUPERVISE USE.

Enjoy!

 

Diane Flynn Keith
for ClickSchooling
http://www.ClickSchooling.com

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French Games, Lessons, and Activities

December 11th, 2010

Hi!  It’s Saturday, December 11, 2010 and time for Foreign Languages at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
Saber Frances

Age Range: 9 and up (Parental guidance and supervision required.)

This website offers a variety of free lessons, exercises, games and activities to help students learn and practice the French language.  It is designed for a wide variety of ages and ability levels.

FYI:  I didn’t find “About” information for this site, so I don’t know who sponsors it. It does have scrolling Amazon.com advertisements, so there are links to outside sources. Parents, as always, should supervise exploration and use of any sites recommended here. 

The site is written in both English and French (displayed side-by-side), which may help to increase competency as you navigate the site.

When you get to the site you’ll see a menu of activities that include:

*Vocabulary – Learn a wide variety of words needed for conversational French.

*Expressions – Learn some idioms and expressions that are used in conversation.

*Exercises – Practice vocabulary and grammar with interactive worksheets.

*Lecture – Improve your reading comprehension by reading essays in French about French culture.

*Grammar – Learn and practice parts of speech including nouns, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, adjectives, etc.

*Chansons or Songs – Learn French through songs! Watch YouTube videos of songs being sung in French. Sing along with Celine Dion, Charles Aznavour and other celebrities. You’ll also find clips of Disney films like Aladdin, Pocahontas, and The Lion King, with the characters singing the songs in French.

*Jeux or Games – Play Hangman and Wordsearch games to practice and improve your knowledge of French. Fun!

Note: I had some intermittent difficulty with the sound at this website when trying to hear pronunciations of various words or phrases.

The site has something to offer students with varying ranges of ability. If you have young children, I’d head to the “Songs” section first. If your children know some French words they may enjoy playing hangman and wordsearch.  More adept students may want to try the reading comprehension and grammar exercises.

Again, parents, as always, should preview the site and supervise use. 

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Less Commonly Taught Foreign Language Lessons

November 20th, 2010

Hi!  It’s Saturday, November 20, 2010 and time for Foreign Languages at ClickSchooling!
 
Recommended Website:
UCLA Language Materials Project

Age Range: 5-18 (K-12)

The University of California Los Angeles offers this free archive of teaching resources including downloadable/printable lessons in pdf, audio files, video files, dictionaries, computer programs/software, games and more to help learn vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing, and conversational language skills in over 100 less commonly taught languages such as:

  • Afrikaans 
  • Arabic
  • Cherokee 
  • Danish 
  • Estonian 
  • Greek
  • Hebrew
  • Hindi 
  • Indonesian 
  • Inuit 
  • Japanese 
  • Latvian 
  • Maori  
  • Navajo 
  • Norwegian  
  • Polish 
  • Samoan 
  • Tagalog 
  • Urdu 
  • Zulu 

When you get to the site you’ll see the K-12 Gateway that offers links to free resources online as well as to materials that are available from libraries and retailers. You’ll also find lesson plans and teaching tips designed for classroom teachers that are presented in English, that can be adapted to teach any other language as well. 

Use the search engine at the top of the page to select:

*Language – Choose from over 100 possibilities

*Material – Select the kind of learning tool you want to find, for example textbook, picture book, audio, video, etc.

*Level – Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced

*Audience – Elementary, Secondary, Post-Secondary

This is a comprehensive resource tool that you may refer to over and over again.

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Free Sign Language Lessons

September 18th, 2010

Hi!  It’s Saturday, September 18, 2010 and time for Electives at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
Lifeprint.com: ASLU

Age Range: All (This is an ad-supported site, so parental supervision is required. Non-readers will need assistance.)

ClickScholar Cie recommended this website that offers free American Sign Language lessons delivered through text explanations, illustrations, photographs and animations. Cie wrote, “I am told it can have you ‘speaking’ sign language by the end of 30 lessons.”

The lessons were developed by William Vicars aka “Dr. Bill,” who has taught ASL for over 20 years. His series of lessons start with the most common concepts used in everyday communication and move from most frequently used to less frequently used. He suggests going through the lessons sequentially starting with Lesson 1 to reach competence quickly.

When you get to the site, don’t be discouraged by its plain look. The lessons contain illustrations and animations, etc., that liven things up.  :)

You’ll see the letters “ASLU” and directly below it is a menu of lessons from 1 to 30.  Click on the lesson numbers to get started right away.

You’ll also want to take some time to explore the rest of the menu that includes:

  • Free Lessons (the same lessons that are on the top horizontal menu)
  • FAQs
  • First 100 Signs
  • Fingerspelling Explanation
  • Fingerspelling Quizzes
  • ~ and much more!

You’ll also notice that the site offers the free series of lessons for sale too. That may seem confusing until you read this explanation on the site:

“Many students requested the opportunity to use these courses to fulfill language requirements at their local high school or college. This required documentation of course participation and verification of the student’s signing ability. Since verification and documentation is a time consuming process requiring the attention and participation of a skilled ASL instructor, a formal fee-based program was provided in addition to the free resources. Students who do not need documentation or instructor-based evaluation should not register nor pay tuition. Such individuals are welcome to self-study from the publicly available online lessons for free.”

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